What is in a name?
How about your hometown? The
place you grew up. The area all your
family and friends still live. What is
the level of pride there? How do others
view it?
Jesus came from the small town of Nazareth
in the region of Galilee near the lake of the same
name. Capernaum
in Galilee held a large rabbinical school. Jesus began His ministry in this area. Yet, in derision, the chief priests and
Pharisees of Jerusalem asked Nicodemus, “Are you from Galilee ,
too? Look into it, and you will
find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.” (John 7:52
NIV).
Nicodemus belonged to their council, however he was no
longer one of them. They judged against
a “so called” prophet, from which they had not yet heard testimony. He asked if Law condemned a man of heresy on
hearsay, knowing the answer should convict them. Mosaic Law required them to listen to someone
considered a prophet before they rejected the concept. In Deuteronomy 13:1-5, the proof that God
sent a prophet was not about the miracles or proclamations that came true. It required the prophet’s words to focus the
people’s thoughts on God’s ways, not lead them away from Him.
Instead of repentance, the chief priests and Pharisees used
ridicule and a veiled threat to move blame onto Nicodemus. They refused to see their own faults. However, they were the ones who needed
remedial scripture lessons. In 2 Kings
14:25, the prophet Jonah came from a town called Gath-hepher in Galilee . Isaiah 9:1-7 proclaimed Galilee
would be honored when David’s successor was born. Strange they forgot these important
details. About five miles away from
Gath-hepher sat Nazareth , the place
Jesus grew up.
The people of Israel
knew and respected Jonah. They believed
the ancient Ninevites accepted his words as truth. Nevertheless, not even those who grew up
with Jesus believed He might be a prophet, let alone the Messiah, because
nothing good came out of Galilee .
[Lesson from a new unpublished book by Jo Helen
Cox that connects Jesus to Jonah, (no title yet).]